Hello velona,
Thank you for your question.
There is actually a good bit of information available for making
mozzarella at home. This page seems rather comprehensive:
http://www.italianfoodforever.com/iff/articles.asp?id=106
"Making Mozzarella At Home...
... I was cleaning out some old cooking magazines last week and saw
that I had marked an article about making cheese at home. I have made
ricotta cheese in the past, but that was the extent of my cheese
making experimentation. This article had said that mozzarella could be
made at home quite easily, creating a product much better than the
rubbery grocery store variety. I was intrigued and decided to give it
a try. You do not need any fancy equipment to make mozzarella, simply
a thermometer, a heavy pot, and some cheesecloth. As for ingredients,
you will need a gallon of whole milk, citric acid, and rennet. This
article stated that citric acid could be found in most grocery stores
in the canning isle, and that rennet could be found in most specialty
cheese stores. Rennet is an enzyme that coagulates milk. Liquid gives
the best accuracy and lasts 1yr. in the fridge. Powder & Tablets last
indefinitely when frozen. I could not find either where I am living so
I turned to an online source, The New England Cheese Company. I
ordered some citric acid and rennet (both the liquid and tablets), and
was surprised when they arrived just a few days later. This company
also has kits for making other cheeses, including ricotta, mascarpone,
goat cheese and hard cheese.
The milk from water buffalos makes the absolute best fresh mozzarella,
but not being familiar with any resource for that here in Florida, I
settled on pasteurized, un-homogenized milk from a local health food
store. While researching this topic, I found that many sources
recommended using raw milk from a health food store or dairy. It was
stated that the homogenization process renders the milk unacceptable
for making mozzarella cheese. The instructions for making mozzarella
that arrived from The New England Cheese Company simply stated that
ultra-pasteurized milk would not work as the protein is denatured by
the high heats used to pasteurize the milk. If it is difficult for you
to find milk that is not homogenized, they give a powdered milk
alternative. Simply reconstitute enough dry milk powder to make 1
gallon, and refrigerate it overnight. When you are ready to make your
mozzarella, mix 1 pint of the reconstituted powdered milk to 1 pint of
heavy cream. You do not have to worry whether the cream was
pasteurized or not because it is mixed with the milk. If you are lucky
enough to find raw milk, you can pasteurize it simply by heating it to
145 degrees F. for 30 minutes.
Basic Recipe For Mozzarella
1 Gallon Of Un-homogenized Milk
1/2 Cup Cool Water
3 Teaspoons Citric Acid
3/4 Teaspoon Liquid Rennet
1/2 Teaspoon Salt (Optional)
Put the milk in a heavy, stainless steel pot. Dissolve the citric acid
in the water, and add this to the milk. Heat the milk to 88 degrees.
At this temperature, you should see your milk begin to curdle. Add
your rennet solution and stir slowly to mix. Continue to stir slowly
every couple of minutes, and continue heating on medium low heat until
the milk mixture reaches 105 degrees F. Turn off the heat, and let
your mixture rest for 15 minutes. As the mixture sits, the curds will
firm up and completely separate from the whey.
Once you have reached this point, use a slotted spoon and scoop out
all of the curds into a cheese cloth lined microwave safe bowl. Bring
this bowl to the sink, and carefully bring the edges of the
cheesecloth together, and squeeze to remove as much liquid as you can,
discarding it. Microwave the curds on high for 1 minute. Drain off any
additional whey that has separated. Push down on the curds with your
hands or a spoon to develop the texture. As soon as you can handle it,
begin to knead it with your hands as you would bread. If using salt,
add it to the cheese at this point.
Continue to microwave the curds twice more for 30 seconds each time,
kneading the cheese in between. If you find the cheese too hot to
handle, you can use rubber gloves. Continue to work the cheese until
it is smooth and shiny. When the cheese is ready, it will stretch like
taffy when hot. Shape your cheese into 4 equal sized balls, and drop
these into a bowl of ice water to set. As soon as your cheese has
cooled, it is ready to eat. This cheese freezes well and will keep in
the refrigerator for 4 days in an airtight container.
Note: If you prefer a firmer textured cheese, you can increase the
amount of rennet used..."
You will find pictures of the process on this page as well.
This about.com page has an odd recipe and instructions that includes
using whipping cream. Seems non-authentic to me, but interesting
enough to provide you with the link:
http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/bldairy23.htm
A Full Belly.com has yet another recipe and instructions:
http://www.afullbelly.com/2004/06/handson_mozzare.html
It seems the stretching process might be one that varies and can be
the difference between success and failure. An excerpt:
"...There are basically two steps to make mozzarella -- transforming
milk into curd, and then transforming the curd into mozzarella through
a stretching process. In this course we focused on the second step,
stretching the mozzarella, which I have detailed below.
After you have prepared your curd, you will want to cut it into small
pieces. Next you'll want to prepare a brine bath. Add 1 cup of salt to
2 gallons of room temperature water. Stir to dissolve, then add ice to
chill the brine. You'll also need a bath of very hot water, just below
boiling. Take a handful of curd pieces, about the size of a tennis
ball, and carefully place them in the hot water bath, so that they
retain their ball-shape. Do not stir or disturb the curd, just let it
rest in the hot bath until it begins to melt. You can check for its
readiness by making sure all the curd pieces are sticking together.
Once its ready, remove the ball from the hot water bath, then stretch
the mozzarella by folding it backwards, like you would while kneading
bread. Fold just until it is fully melted and free of clumps. The
outer skin should appear very pearly and shiny. Make a final fold,
then pinch edges together to form a ball, and place in the iced brine
bath.
Below is the recipe we were provided with for making mozzarella at
home. Note that the technique for stretching mozzarella varies
slightly from the one we used. I have yet to try this at home, but I
suspect the technique we used in class will prevent over-working the
mozzarella and is closer to foolproof..."
Leeners has a kit for making mozzarella:
http://www.leeners.com/cheese.html
"...1 HR MOZZARELLA KIT $19.95-
INCLUDES OUR RICOTTA CHEESE RECIPE
That's right, you can make mozzarella cheese in only one hour. You get
all the special ingredients to make six individual batches for a total
of almost 9 pounds of fresh American style mozzarella. Kit includes
thermometer, cheese cloth, vegetable rennet, mild lipase powder,
citric acid, cheese salt, calcium chloride and easy to follow
instructions. You supply one gallon of any milk type per batch.
Equipment needed: 6 quart stock pot, large microwave safe mixing bowl,
slotted spoon, rubber gloves, and measuring spoons.."
Follow the link to extensive instructions and pictures of the process:
http://www.leeners.com/mozzarella.html
As you can see, there are numerous recipes and instructions sets for
this. Following are a few more links you might find interesting
reading before you next attempt to make a batch at home:
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Pasta_Filata/Pasta_Filata.html
FRESH MOZZARELLA FROM A GALLON OF MILK
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Mozzarella/MOZZARELLA_jn0.HTM
ITALIAN MOZZARELLA
http://www.recipesource.com/side-dishes/cheese/mozzarella1.html
* Exported from MasterCook * MOZZARELLA CHEESE
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/recipe_mozprov.htm
Citric Acid Provolone and Mozzarella using Goat's Milk
http://www.beatrice-ojakangas.com/2004/08/mozzarella-mozzarella.htm
"...Mozzarella! Mozzarella!
You'll want to shout it from the kitchen window when you discover how
ridiculously easy it is to make fresh mozzarella cheese at home
Fresh mozzarella made by hand. Sounds complicated and expensive, doesn't it?
Surprise: Nothing could be further from the truth. You CAN make fresh
mozzarella at home in less time than it takes to make a box cake mix.
It isn't rocket science, and you don't need the computer skills of a
6-year-old to understand what you're doing..."
Search Strategy:
make +mozzarella +home
I trust my research has provided you with several recipes, good
instructions and several sets of pictures to display the steps in the
mozzarella cheese making process. If a link above should fail to work
or anything require further explanation or research, please do post a
Request for Clarification prior to rating the answer and closing the
question and I will be pleased to assist further.
Regards,
-=clouseau=- |
